


Brotherly Advice

by NadiaHart, TrickyJerseyGirl



Series: How to Make a Family [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Castiel, Archangel Gabriel (Supernatural), Baby Brother Castiel, Big Brother Gabriel, Castiel and Bees, Castiel is a good brother, Castiel likes peanut butter and jelly, Established Relationship, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gabriel is Bad at Feelings, Gabriel is a good brother, Gen, adorkable angels, mention of Gabriel/OFC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 14:19:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8493058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NadiaHart/pseuds/NadiaHart, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrickyJerseyGirl/pseuds/TrickyJerseyGirl
Summary: Gabriel is involved with a hunter and he has no idea what to do about it. So he contacts the only other angel who might know something about life with a hunter.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Established Gabriel/OFC relationship (albeit a newish one). Destiel subtext if you squint (one of the authors is Destiel and one is not, so we compromised). Slight AU in that both Gabriel and Bobby are still alive. Mentions of Sam and Dean.

Castiel’s phone rang. The ringtone confused him; he hadn’t been aware that he’d downloaded the song “Send Me an Angel.” When he saw the caller ID, he realized that, of course, he hadn’t. “Gabriel,” he said.

“Hey, bro,” came the archangel’s smooth voice. “You busy?”

“Not particularly.” he answered. “Sam and Dean asked me to…”

“Great, just what I wanted to hear.”

A split second later, Castiel found himself in a field near a cypress tree-laden body of water.There wasn’t a soul to be seen, and he couldn’t help tensing a bit when he heard footsteps and saw a figure in a ranger’s uniform headed toward him. The glint of sunlight on sandy brown hair and the strut in the step, however, identified the man immediately. “Where are we?” he asked. 

“Bayou Segnette State Park,” Gabriel said. “Westwego, Louisiana.”

“Why am I in Louisiana?” Cas asked. “Is there a rugarou?”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Hanging around hunters has given you a whole new vocabulary, I see. And a whole new level of paranoia. No monsters, bro. It’s been a while since we had some quality family time. I thought we were due for a nice brotherly chat.”

“A… chat?” Castiel stared at his brother. The last time they’d had a chat, Gabriel said it was because he needed help, but what he’d actually needed was bait to lure out a Norse witch who still knew Gabriel as Loki and was trying to settle an old score. Castiel had not enjoyed the occasion. 

“Gabriel, why am I here?” he asked again, more firmly this time, extending his grace out in small tendrils to sense for a trap. “And do not attempt to placate me. I am quite certain that anything that is currently amiss in your life you can handle on your own.” He started to leave. There were much more important things to worry about.

“No tricks this time, no bait,” Gabriel said, jogging to catch up with Castiel. “I told you, no monsters. Can’t a big brother want to catch up with his favorite baby bro from time to time?”

“No.” Castiel deadpanned. “That is not how this family works, Gabriel. You above anyone else should realize that. Now, if you will excuse me.” Castiel lifted his fingers and snapped. Nothing happened. He snapped again; still nothing happened. “Gabriel…” he growled softly. 

“What’s it like to live with a hunter?” Gabriel looked surprised at the words that came out of his own mouth. “Uh, hypothetically speaking.”

Castiel stopped short, the question catching him so off guard that one of his feet was still partly raised in the air. “Excuse me?” he asked, turning to face the shorter angel. “I do not believe there is anything ‘hypothetical’ about living with a hunter.” He turned again to find a path out of the park, then paused, his brows knitting as he considered the question again. “There are periods of extraordinary stillness, interspersed with hyper, almost manic, activity. There tends to be more occurrences of apocalyptic type events than I am comfortable reminiscing on.” Another pause, more consideration. “Though that just maybe what it is like living with Sam and Dean. Does this answer your question, Gabriel? Are we done now? I am rather busy, you know, rebuilding heaven and all.”

Gabriel waved a hand dismissively. “Please. Like that hasn’t happened a thousand times before. Haven’t you heard, bro? Heaven can wait. Here. A peace offering.” He snapped his fingers. 

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich appeared in Castiel’s hand. “While that is very considerate of you, Gabriel, I can’t taste this, not any longer, at least not how I would like to.” He sighed, looking wistfully at the sandwich. It even had the crusts removed. 

“Yeah?” Gabriel said, crossing his arms on his chest. “Try it.”

Castiel narrowed his eyes at his brother, but still lifted the sandwich to his lips and took a healthy bite. Sweet raspberry sugar burst on his tongue, swirled with creamy nuttiness of the peanut butter, all wrapped up between the soft pillowy slices of white bread. Castiel groaned something sinful as he eagerly took another large bite.

“See?” Gabriel grinned. “I know how to make my baby bro happy.”

Castiel rolled his eyes as he popped the last of the sandwich between his lips. He licked a small stripe of raspberry jam from his palm before turning his attention back to his brother. “Indeed.” he said with a small smile “I’ll ask again, what do you want Gabriel? I know you; nothing comes for free.”

“Just a talk, seriously,” Gabriel said. They had neared a small, deserted playground and Gabriel sat in a swing. “I realize I haven’t always been the most forthcoming of the host…”

Castiel snorted loudly. cutting across his brother. “Honestly, not the most forthcoming, Gabriel?” He leaned in, grabbing one of the chains of the swing his brother has perched himself in “You dropped off the face of heaven, hid among the mortals, and then for the love of Father, you took over the identity of a pagan god. You abandoned your family; you left us. You left me.” He added that last part more softly, suddenly standing straight up, his hand still tight on the chain. 

Gabriel reached up and placed his hand on that of his younger brother. “I know, Cassie,” he said quietly. “I know. I was afraid, and I was angry, and I ran, and I have told you before that I never should have done it. I did what I could to make up for it. I will keep doing what I can to make up for it. Including talks like this. Family time. I’ve…. been learning why that’s important.”

Castiel pulled his hand away and took a spot on the swing next to his brother. “Family is all that matters,” he said, absently letting the the swing glide back and forth slightly under his weight. “You’re right, Gabriel. I am sorry for bringing up the past.” There was a long pause before he looked at his brother again. “You look well. When did you start working for the park?”

“I don’t,” he said. “Someone brought me out here. It’s a beautiful place. Thought you’d like it.”

“I do.”

“Yeah,” Gabriel sighed, a strange little smile on his face. “It really is. I like the Spanish moss. Dad really did a number with that, how it just lives on air and produces these weird little hidden flowers and doesn’t need much of anything else to survive. Self-sufficient. Strong. Beautiful. But it needs the tree. They don’t work without each other.”

Castiel looked more closely at his brother, letting silence fall between them again. Gabriel was different, somehow—lighter, but also burdened. Castiel reviewed their conversation in his head, more slowly this time, removing his agitation at being summoned against his will and then prevented from leaving again. He thought about what Gabriel said about the moss; Castiel himself had often felt the same way about honeybees. He found himself humming and nodding along in agreement. “Gabriel,” Castiel finally said. “Are we still talking about Tillandsia usneoides? I know I have lived in close contact with humans recently and this maybe why, but I get the feeling that we are no longer talking about Tillandsia usneoides.”

To Castiel’s complete shock, his brother blushed. “I see.” Castiel couldn’t hide a small smile at the slip in his brother’s normally infallible composure. “I am going to assume this has something to do with your first question, the one about living with a hunter?”

“Mmmmaybe,” Gabriel said.

As nice as it was chatting so casually with his brother, Gabriel’s aversion to the topic at hand was becoming tedious. “I see,” he said again. “So if it is not about living with a hunter, I assume you have another question?” Castiel pinned Gabriel with his gaze, long and unblinking. Just as the other angel was about to respond, Castiel spoke again. “Because if this is in reference to your first question, I can tell you that there are a lot of dishes that need to be cleaned. And even though you will swear you had just washed those particular dishes, they will be dirty again.” He was about to continue talking about housekeeping but he realized that probably wasn’t really the information Gabriel was seeking. “But I digress. Could you possibly ask me a more specific question? There are many things accompanying living with a Hunter.”

“She does the dishes,” Gabriel said. “Says it makes her feel zen.” 

Castiel nodded. “You are very luck...She?” He blinked, his browns knit in thought again. “Gabriel, are you living with a female hunter?”

Gabriel chuckled. “Yeah, kinda. I mean, she hasn’t given up her apartment yet, but yeah, I guess I am.”

“That is... good, Gabriel. I am happy for you.” He paused, choosing his words carefully “Partnering with hunters is… interesting. There is always something to do. I find that their penchant for sleeping gives me ample time to catch up on research. It is an easy way to fill the time until they are awake again. Have you found a similarly entertaining way to pass the evening hours?” Castiel rocked on his swing again, his head tilted up to the tree canopy.

“Oh, she certainly does love spending a lot of time in bed,” Gabriel said, a little too airily. “And on the couch. The carpet. The countertop, a couple of times.”

Castiel looked back at his brother. “I am again getting the feeling we are not talking about the same topic. Are you having sex with this hunter?” he asked bluntly. “I have learned that sleeping with a hunter has not been good for the health of those who have done it. But again, that might be specific to sleeping with a Winchester.” He stopped to think for a moment, then then continued. “No, it’s more than that, isn’t it?” When Gabriel didn’t answer, Castiel followed the line of logic in his head and said, “Gabriel, are you in love with a mortal, a human? A human hunter, no less?” This might be a very bad idea. And Castiel knew a thing or two about bad ideas. 

Gabriel clearly read the look on Castiel’s face, and the archangel’s smile vanished. “So you… you don’t think it’s a good idea, then.”

“I did not say that.” His expression took on a distant look. Castiel may have thought that it was a bad idea, but that didn’t mean that it actually was one. He thought about the previous lovers Gabriel had once talked about, in far too much detail, as far as Castiel was concerned, one night at the bunker. When Dean and Sam both joined in the conversation, it was like a competitive erotic story session. The pizza man had nothing on the Winchesters or, it seemed, on his brother. 

Castiel remembered the stories of some of the women, most of them immortal, that Gabriel had spoken about that night. One thing they all had in common was that they were fiery, spirited partners. But none of them, no matter how much detail was shared, had brought a single spot of color to his brother’s face. This, clearly, was different. 

“No, Gabriel, I don’t think it’s a bad idea,” he said. “I believe a hunter, the right hunter, would be an excellent match for you. They are hard headed, stubborn, and self righteous. But they are also loyal, strong, and spirited. They live by a code of their own creation that I think you would understand. But human lives are short, and among them, a Hunter’s life is often considerably shorter. I think this may have been the hesitancy you detected from me. But if you are going to fall for a human, I believe only a hunter will be able to satisfy you emotionally, mentally, and, ah, sexually. Those things are important, or so I have been told. But I have no personal experience on this topic and would appreciate if we could transverse to an area I am more well versed in.” He spoke the last sentence in a rush, looking down at the gravel under his feet.

“I’ve never known anyone like her, Castiel,” Gabriel said, his gaze on the horizon and his voice soft, almost amazed. “She shocks the hell out of me everyday; there’s something new about her every single day.” 

Castiel laughed heartily, head tilted back, his bright, gummy smile wide. “I am assuming you’ve never really taken the time to get to know a hunter before, have you? They are amazing creatures, Gabriel, truly amazing. I am also not surprised that this comes as a revelation to you. I found myself stunned on more than one occasion; I still do, to this day, years later, find myself stunned by the hunters in my life, by Sam, and by Dean. I do not think there will ever be a time when your hunter ceases to shock you. What is her name?”

“Tia,” Gabriel said, “Tia Brigette. I call her Gigi.” A brief shadow crossed his features. “But it’s the job, Cassie. Last week… she got called in on a job. There was a wendigo, here in the park. It had slaughtered a whole family of campers, so Gigi went in to take care of it. I offered to go with her; I wanted to go with her, but she told me stay behind, that she could handle herself, and I didn’t want her to think that I thought she couldn’t do her own job. And then I heard her screaming. In my head, I heard her screaming. So I locked onto it and zapped myself to where she was and…” Gabriel stopped for a second and swallowed hard. “It had gotten her, right in the kidneys. Her friend, another hunter, had killed it, but not before it went for a killing blow. When I got there, she was choking on her own blood and her heart…” He stopped again, this time taking a deep breath before continuing. “I healed her. There isn’t even a scar, but she was lying there and if I hadn’t gotten there in time, if I hadn’t heard her screaming…”

“Gabriel.” Castiel offered softly, reaching out and placing his hand on his brother's shoulder. Castiel had been in that spot more times then he could count. The Winchesters had, as he would often say, a penchant for dying, and when they were not dying right out, they excelled at getting themselves critically injured. He barked a laugh suddenly, his eyes shifting so he looked at his brother out of the corner of his gaze and said with a smirk, “Just be happy you aren’t responsible for two.”

“It scares me, Cassie. I keep thinking, what if I’m too late one day?”

Castiel smiled in both empathy and happiness that this new shared knowledge between them. “Mmmm, yes Gabriel, it’s strange, caring for someone like that, isn’t it? It’s frightening to feel something so deeply it aches in your very bones, shakes your grace to its core.” Castiel squeezed Gabriel’s shoulder. “It’s strange, Gabriel, isn’t it, to feel weak? To fear that maybe you aren’t strong enough? How very human of you.”

Gabriel smiled. “I even sleep now, most nights. Waking up with her next to me is incredible. Trickster, demigod, archangel, I’ve been a lot of things. But she brings out the humanity in me.”

“Those who are worth it often do that to us.” Castiel hummed softly. “How did you figure out sleep? All I can usually obtain is a deep, meditative state.”

“WitSec,” Gabriel said. “I taught myself how to do it along time ago, made it easier to blend in at times. It’s not the same as humans; I don’t dream. It’s probably just a deeper state than you achieve, but basically the same thing.”

“Well, anything would be better than nothing,” Castiel said, his hands back on the chains of his own swing. He was enjoying the swing. It was a little like flying. “Dean continues to berate me whenever he wakes to me standing over him. I cannot shake the feeling that if I just watch for long enough, if I just observe him while he sleeps for long enough, I will understand how to do it myself. For some reason it enrages him whenever he catches me.”

“Uh, because standing over someone’s bed and watching them sleep is creepy as fuck,” Gabriel said. “Did you have a knife in your hand at the time too, Michael Myers?”

“Of course not, don’t be ridiculous.” Castiel stopped suddenly, his head tilting to the side “That's not entirely true, I do always have my Angel blade on me…”

“Wow, you really need to get better at this, baby bro,” Gabriel said. “Nobody likes to find someone standing over them with a weapon. Like, ever.”

“I will take your advice to heart, Gabriel, thank you.”

His brother smiled at him. “Me too,” he said, clapping Castiel on the shoulder and getting up from the swing.. “I should get back anyway. Gigi was saying something about Victoria’s Secret when I left.” He waggled his eyebrows at the other angel.

“Right….” Castiel said as he stood up. “You know, this was nice, Gabriel; we should do it again. Ah, before you go, do you think, maybe…” Castiel held out his hand towards his brother.

Gabriel snapped his fingers; a plain brown bag appeared in Castiel’s hand. “Three for the road,” Gabriel said. “Come to dinner next week and you can try oysters and jambalaya. She’s a hell of a cook.”

The smile that split Castiel’s face hurt his cheeks “That would be nice Gabriel. I look forward to meeting your hunter. You should join us at the Bunker some time; Sam assures me that Dean makes an excellent burger.”

“You think I am letting Gigantor or Blue Steel anywhere near a hot, gorgeous, female hunter with a rack that won’t quit? Bitch, please.”

“I do not understand that reference.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Fine. Our place, then your place. But tell Dean-o that if he so much as winks in her direction, he’ll be looking for his junk with a microscope. Sam too.”

Castiel frowned but nodded. “I understand and will convey the seriousness of the situation to them. Is this all you needed, Gabriel?”

“Just one more thing.” Gabriel embraced his brother. “Thanks, bro.”

Castiel started for a moment, then hugged back. “You are very welcome.”

Gabriel stepped back. “You can teleport now. I’m heading out myself. Oh, Cassie, by the way…”

Castiel, who had been ready to make the jump, stopped and said, “Yes, Gabriel?”

“She’s Bobby Singer’s niece.”

Castiel chewed thoughtfully on one of his sandwiches. “Bobby Singer is a good man. He helped raise Sam and Dean, who are themselves good men. Therefore, I am sure he would also do a good job as an uncle.” He looked at Gabriel. “Do you think perhaps there is something special about the man and his kin that make them so amiable to angels? I should look into it.”

Gabriel chuckled. “Yeah, you do that. I’ll let you know about dinner. Make sure the chuckleheads don’t break the world between now and then.”

“I will try. Goodbye, Gabriel.”

“Bye, bro.”

**Author's Note:**

> First ever post for TrickyJerseyGirl, therefore will grovel for comments. There are plans to continue this story, including a prequel.


End file.
